Placing social science at the centre of food research
The Applied Social Science and Communication (ASSAC) Research Hub is an interdisciplinary research hub using social science and communication research to address priority challenges in food and agricultural systems.
We work with government, industry and rural communities to:
- shape policy
- improve communication
- enable practice change and technological adoption
- strengthen agricultural systems.
Strategic priorities
ASSAC focuses on four areas of applied social science and communication research:
- Agricultural extension and practice change
Designing extension strategies that support practice change. We identify barriers and enablers for the adoption of new practices and technologies and develop communication approaches that meet the needs of producers and trusted intermediaries. - Policy analysis and social impact
Supporting governments and industry to design policies and programs that reflect the realities of farming communities. We undertake project design, evaluations, adoption risk assessments and social impact analyses of agricultural technologies and policy changes. - Strategic communication and social licence
Understanding how trust, misinformation and public perceptions shape food and agricultural systems. We develop communication strategies and resources, including podcasts, documentaries and social media content, tailored for different audiences including export and domestic markets, consumers, policy makers, industry and growers. - Community voice and social networks
Representing how different rural and regional communities experience agricultural change. We examine how information, trust and influence move through communities and policy networks and give voice to community experiences using ethnographic fieldwork techniques.
Research capacities
ASSAC delivers applied social science and communication research using a wide range of methodological approaches:
- Project design and end-of-project evaluations
- Societal impact analysis of agricultural technologies and policy changes
- Adoption risk assessments
- Podcasts, social media, documentaries and creative works
- Toolkits to counter misinformation
- Studies of community trust
- Tailored extension strategies designed to drive practice change
- Identification of barriers and drivers to adoption
- Peer-to-peer knowledge transfer
- Participatory approaches to sustainable transition
- Understanding how information, trust and influence flow through rural communities, industry bodies and policy networks.
- Systematic evidence synthesis
- Discourse analysis of agricultural and food policy debates
- Media monitoring
- Interviews, focus groups, future-casting workshops and user experience studies with farmers, consumers and policymakers.
- Surveys, statistical modelling and data analysis for population-level food security research, consumer behaviour and policy evaluation.
Collaborate with us
Partners engage ASSAC in a variety of ways depending on the challenge being addressed and the funding available.
- Funded research projects: from short-term problem-specific engagements through to large multiyear programs, collaboratively designed with funders and delivered by multidisciplinary teams.
- Industry PhDs: doctoral students develop deep expertise on a major challenge, bolstering long-term research capacity in the partner organisation.
- Student projects: undergraduate students work on short-term projects co-developed with the industry partner, harnessing the energy and perspectives of a new generational cohort.
Contact us
Get in touch if you would like to know more as a potential funder, partner, collaborator or research student.